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Author: tanvicmarix
The Journey Begins
Thanks for joining me!
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread Muffins
My neighbor Katie is a wonderful cook! One time when Matt was out of town, she invited Harper and me over for dinner. Everything she cooked was awesome, including her sweet cornbread muffins.
I asked her how she made them, and she said she used a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix, and then tweaked it with some honey and sugar. I tried doing what she said, but mine just didn’t taste like hers. Not having a recipe to follows yields poor results for me. 😦
Since I needed a recipe, I got on Pinterest and searched for corn muffins using Jiffy corn muffin mix. Instead of the sweet version Katie made, I found these savory jalapeño cheddar cornbread muffins from Love+Butter.
They are really good! Matt loves them, and I love how easy they are to make. They kind of remind me of my summer bounty corn casserole in muffin form, and with a kick due to the jalapeños and chopped green chilies.
I like to make these with chili or sloppy joes. Sooo good!
Harper loves corn, but doesn’t really like these due to the jalapeños and green chilies. She can’t handle spicy. (She’s crazy, right!) Not a true Texan you ask? We’ll continue to work on her. Lol.
My dad is from Kentucky, and hated salsa and Mexican food when he first moved to Texas. Now Mexican food (Mexican food in Texas is actually called Tex-Mex), is one of his favorites!
Harper says, “I’ll just stick to plain ole corn on the cob or canned corn, thank you very much!”
Enjoy!
Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 24
Ingredients
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- 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
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- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
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- 1 egg
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- 4 1/2 oz can chopped green chiles
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- 8 oz cream style corn
- 8.5 oz box Jiffy corn muffin mix
Instructions
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- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
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- In a medium bowl, mix egg, chopped green chiles, and cream style corn. Add cheese and diced jalapeños and mix again.
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- In a large bowl, empty the box of Jiffy corn muffin mix into a large bowl. Form a well in the center. Add the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
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- Spray a 24-mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray and spoon in the batter.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. (If you are using a standard 12-cup muffin pan, increase your bake time to 20 minutes.) Let cool on a rack, then serve.
Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies
For real…. these truly are HEALTHY peanut butter cookies! Didn’t think there was such a thing? Does no butter, no eggs, no flour, and no oil sound healthy to you?
Made with skim milk, peanut butter, a cup of whole oats, and a touch of sugar, you really can’t get much better than this. I ran out of Harper’s favorite organic kids Clif Z Bars, and didn’t feel like making a trip to the grocery store to buy more, so instead I thought I’d make a homemade granola bar/cookie for her.
With all the stuff online about eating healthy, and the dangers of processed foods, and plastic water bottles, anything wrapped up and sold in a box is probably not the best thing for you to eat or drink.
I love that these cookies look and taste like cookies, but have the nutrition of a non-processed granola/energy bar.
You get protein from the peanut butter, hearty whole grains from the oats, and a bit of calcium from the milk. If you want to get creative, have fun substituting almond butter or cashew butter for the peanut butter. You could even add dark chocolate chips for some added sweetness.
Fruit and cheese is my snack choice of preference for Harper, but I don’t always keep an ice pack on me to keep it cool. Lol. Granola bars and room temperature snacks are always easiest. Sure enough, while at the mall Harper got hungry and these peanut butter cookies came to the rescue.
Enjoy!
Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 1/2 dozen
Ingredients
- 1 cup peanut butter (I used smooth Jif)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup skim milk
- 1 cup ground up oats (in the food processor)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer, beat the peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, and milk on low until creamy and smooth.
- In a food processor, process the oats until a flour mixture is achieved. Whisk together the oats, salt, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat until just combined.
- Scoop out equal portions of dough onto prepared cookie sheet. Press a fork down onto each cookie in a criss cross pattern.
- Bake for 18 minutes or until golden. Remove and let cool before serving. Store in an airtight container.
Peanut Butter Cheerio Bars
If you’re looking for a quick, easy recipe that’s toddler friendly, then look no further. With just three ingredients, and no baking required, you can almost make these Peanut Butter Cheerio Bars blindfolded.
Okay, blindfolded may be a bad example; you’ve got to measure the ingredients right! Lol. But seriously, they are super easy. This would be a great “first” recipe for your toddler to HELP you make if they are into cooking with you. 🙂
For those without kids, bring out the inner-kid in you, and feel free to whip these up for yourself. Who says you have to be a kid to eat Cheerios and peanut butter? Any age can enjoy these!
Enjoy.
Peanut Butter Cheerio Bars
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12 bars
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (I used Jif)
- 1/2 cup honey (I used Nature Nates from McKinney, TX)
- 3 cups Honey Nut Cheerios
Instructions
- Heat peanut butter and honey in a sauce pan over medium-low heat until combined.
- Stir in Cheerios.
- Press into greased 8-inch square pan lined with foil. Refrigerate for an hour, then cut into bars.
Levain Bakery Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Call me the chocolate chip cookie lady, because for every small group, family get together, or anytime I want a dessert, I make chocolate chip cookies.
Supposedly the Levain Bakery chocolate chip walnut cookie is all the rage. Located in New York, the bakery was founded in 1994 by two friends Connie McDonald and Pam Weekes. Both women were competitive swimmers and had trained for the Ironman, and not surprisingly, were left starved for food after their tireless workouts. One day they began a passionate conversation about creating the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookie…. and they did!
To this day, they ship their world famous cookies to happy customers around the globe. I have yet to try their cookies, but I saw several other bloggers post copy cat Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookies that they say tasted similar to the real thing.
A few tweak’s to Brown Eyed Baker’s copy cat recipe yielded this…..
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CHOCOLATE CHIP CHUNK COOKIE I HAVE EVER SEEN! (We used chunks instead of chips.) No really, isn’t it pretty?
Piled up high, at least an inch tall, these cookies are heaven. The key is the baking time. Please please please make sure you DO NOT overbake these!
The first batch of cookies we made cooked for 15 minutes. While they didn’t look done when we pulled them out of the oven, they do cook some more on the baking sheet. After the cookies cool and set, you get a nice bite of chewy, chocolatey gooey-ness in the middle.
The second batch we made were cooked for 20 minutes. While these looked more done when we pulled them out of the oven, they didn’t have the gooey centers like the first batch. In addition, the bottoms of the cookies were significantly brown.
They were still good, but the first batch was ten times better.
Lesson learned and word to the wise. It’s better to have a slightly under-baked cookie than an over-baked one.
Miss Harper was a fan too. She loves sweets, and now at 16 months can repeat the word, “cookie”. What’s even crazier is that she knows what a cookie is. Maybe that’s poor parenting on my part. We need to be eating more broccoli. Lol.
Enjoy!
Levain Bakery Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12 cookies
Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker
Ingredients
- 3 cups (13.5 oz) bread flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 3/4 cup + 4 tsp. (6 oz) light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, cold, lightly beaten in a separate bowl
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks
- 1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until it comes together in one cohesive mass, about 1 minute. Add both sugars and continue to beat for another 1 to 2 minutes, until all of the sugar has been incorporated into the butter. Gradually add the eggs and vanilla and continue beating on medium speed until mixed, scraping the sides of the bowl once (the batter will appear lumpy).
- Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the flour mixture until just a little bit of flour still remains. Stir in the chocolate chunks and nuts with a rubber spatula.
- Divide the dough into 12 portions about 4 ounces each. Keep cookies in rough mounds (as opposed to flattening them out of trying to smooth them) and refrigerate 30 minutes before baking.*
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until cookies are light golden brown and just barely cooked in the middle.** Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
*Popping the cookie dough in the fridge before baking helps them keep their tall shape.[br]**Err on the side of under baking – these are best when they’re gooey in the center!
Harper’s Favorite Banana Muffins
If anyone knows Harper, you’ll know she has a HUGE sweet tooth! Uhhh… I wonder where she got that from?? 🙂
When she was younger and wasn’t talking yet, she’d sign “more” in sign language. With that said, “more” was one of her first few words. I guess she figured saying “more” might add a little emphasis to the sign language. Smart cookie she is!
A few weeks ago, Harper and I were at Grammy’s house (my mom/Harper’s grandmother). Grammy saw these quote-on-quote “healthy” muffins on feedly and was dying to try them. Technically, they are considered healthy since they have Greek yogurt and bananas in them, but with 1 1/4 cups of sugar, and 1 1/4 cups of canola oil, you be the judge on that one. Lol.
Healthy or not, Harper adored these muffins! She ate an entire mini muffin in a matter of minutes, and couldn’t stop asking for more! These muffins are very sweet, and almost taste like a cross between cake and a muffin. Go figure she liked them!!
If you’re needing some chocolate in your life, feel free to add 1 cup mini chocolate chips. I may try that next time to change it up. You can also add chopped walnuts or pecans, but if you’re making these for a toddler, you may want to leave the nuts out.
Enjoy!
Harper’s Favorite Banana Muffins
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 24
Source: Adapted from Leite’s Culinaria
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups (10 oz or 315 g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups (10 fluid oz or 310 milliliters) canola oil, plus more for the pan
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3 cups (13.5 oz or 360g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- Kosher salt
- 3 ripe, brown bananas, peeled and cut into chunks (about 1 lb.)
- 1/2 cup (2 oz or 60g) unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup (4 oz or 125g) plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup (5 oz or 150g) chopped chocolate or mini chocolate chips, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 12-cup standard muffin pans or two 24-cup mini muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray or butter them with oil.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla on high speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and beat again until well combined, about 2 minutes.
- Increase the speed to medium, add the bananas, coconut, and yogurt, and beat for 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low or switch to a spoon, and add the chocolate chips. Mix until well combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 to 3/4 full.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out without any crumbs or wet batter clinging to it, 20-25 minutes for standard muffins or 15-20 minutes for mini muffins.
- Turn the muffins out onto a wire rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes. (Muffins will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month).
Morning Glory Muffins
We’re not even close to being done with winter, but I’m ready to start spring cleaning. Maybe it’s the fact that we all got some new Christmas outfits, or I just had to clean the attic up to fit the Christmas tree back in there, but I’m ready to do some cleaning out, throwing away, and giving away of some items.
A few weeks ago I decided to tackle the downstairs den and organize some shelves by our TV. In the shelves, I keep all our wedding pictures, birthday cards, sweet notes from Matt and other little keepsakes.
As I was going through our wedding stuff, I found several nice cards, and even a TWENTY DOLLAR gift card to Target!!! Who-hoo! Let’s hope after seven years the gift card is still good! 🙂
In another wedding card, I found this recipe for Morning Glory muffins from my dad’s coworker named Sandra Winfield. The recipe sounded delicious, so the next day I decided to whip these up.
I’ve tried a bunch of quick breads and muffins over the years, and by far, this is my FAVORITE morning glory muffin recipe ever! Not only is it the best of all the morning glory muffins, it will now be my go-to recipe for whenever I want a muffin!! They are that good.
The apple butter is the secret ingredient. It makes the muffins light, flavorful, sweet and super moist. With two whole cups of carrots, an apple, whole wheat flour, walnuts, and wheat germ sprinkled on top, you’ve got a hearty and pretty healthy muffin at that.
Sandra – thanks for sending over the recipe. We all loved these and will be making them again!
So, next time you dread spring cleaning…. think of the positives. Like a treasure hunt, who knows what you may find. It may be cash, old photos, or even a new recipe to try! Enjoy.
Morning Glory Muffins
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 18 muffins
From: Sanda Winfield
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 1/4 cups white sugar
- 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 cups grated carrots
- 1 apple – peeled, cored and and chopped
- 1 cup raisins
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup apple butter
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp. chopped walnuts
- 2 Tbsp. toasted wheat germ
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil 18 muffin cups or coat with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, apple butter, oil and vanilla.
- In a large bowl, stir together flours, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Stir in the carrots, apples and raisins. Stir in apple butter mixture and mix until just moistened. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them about 3/4 full.
- In a small bowl, combine walnuts and wheat germ; sprinkle over the muffin tops.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until tops are golden and spring back when lightly pressed.
Maple Pecan Banana Bread
If you’re looking for a super sweet banana bread recipe, look no further than this one. Between the maple syrup and maple pecan topping, this bread is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Or if you’re Harper, nothing can satisfy a sweet tooth as much as a donut hole can! Every Sunday our church has donuts in the kitchen and Matt and Harper go get some after church service. Each Sunday she seems to be eating more.
I remember when she was only a few months, I found out Matt gave her a couple of licks. Then it became a few bites. Then it became a whole donut hole. Then two. Then three. Today she ate THREE AND A HALF donut holes!! Don’t worry, she washed it down with a cup of milk. Lol.
So as I said, this maple pecan banana bread may not be as sweet as a donut, but it’s pretty good. The crumb topping is the best part. To satisfy my sweet tooth, I might just eat the topping of the bread, and leave the bottom part for later.
Haha. Enjoy!
Maple Pecan Banana Bread
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12
Source: Tutti Dolci
Ingredients
- BREAD
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups mashed banana
- 1/3 cups maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp. maple sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- MAPLE PECAN TOPPING
- 1/3 cup pecans, halved
- 3 Tbsp. maple sugar
- 3 Tbsp. flour
- pinch of cinnamon
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
- FOR THE BREAD: Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
- Combine banana, maple syrup, maple sugar, coconut oil, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl; add to flour mixture and fold in just until combined. Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth top with an offset spatula.
- FOR THE TOPPING: Combine pecans, maple sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add coconut oil and toss mixture with a fork until crumbly.
- Sprinkle over batter and bake for 30 minutes; rotate pan and cover with foil to prevent over browning. Continue baking another 31 to 33 minutes. Bread is done when golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes; carefully remove bread from pan and cool completely before slicing and serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.
Serving size: 1 Calories: 225
King Arthur Flour Monster Cookies
I don’t know about you, but I’m glad the holidays are over. Back to the real world! We had a wonderful Christmas, but I’m ready to get a good, solid schedule back in order.
With all the festivities, I hadn’t had a chance to post these delicious monster cookies yet.
My sister made them for a party she went to, and then my mom made some because they were that good! Harper and I both loved them as well.
I’ve blogged monster cookies before, but ended up deleting them from the blog because they are not even in the same ballpark as this monster cookie recipe.
Almost 5 cups of rolled oats, peanut butter, mini M&M’s, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, what’s not to like? They are loaded with so much good stuff, there’s only 1/2 cup of flour in the whole recipe!!
Now that Christmas is over, instead of red and green M&M’s, you could use pink and red for Valentine’s Day, pastels for Easter, red, white and blue for the 4th of July… you get the idea.
Feel free to add in any of your favorite additions like white chocolate chips, milk chocolate, raisins, etc. to make them your very own. I will say, they are pretty much perfect just as the recipe states below. 🙂
Enjoy!!
King Arthur Flour Monster Cookies
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 26 large (4 1/2-inch) cookies
Source: The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion cookbook
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup (8 oz) brown sugar
- 1 cup (7 oz) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. corn syrup
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 oz) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups (14 1/4 oz) chunky peanut butter (don’t use organic, use the regular kind)
- 4 1/2 cups (15 3/4 oz) rolled oats
- 1/2 cup (2 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (4 1/2 oz) chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup (4 1/2 oz) butterscotch chips
- 3/4 cup (5 1/2 oz) mini M&M’s*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugars, vanilla, corn syrup, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the melted butter, then the peanut butter, oats, and flour, mixing until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chips and M&M’s.
- Let the dough rest for 30 minutes so the oats can absorb some of the butter.
- Drop the dough by 1/4-cupfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Use your fingers to flatten the cookies slightly then bake them for 12 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack.
Notes
*Use mini M&M’s. If you can’t find mini M&M’s, substitute 3/4 cup (4 1/2 oz) regular M&M’s.
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